Filed under: Latest News — shayne at 10:11 pm on Monday, May 19, 2008
There is no pot of gold at the end of our Rainbow Nation, instead there is mayhem, destruction and death! Is this what South African’s fought so hard for, I think not!
Yes, my picture has sent jaws flapping throughout the country, and the world. But will it make any difference, is that too much to ask for? Did this man suffer for no reason? Will we all say “shame that’s not nice” and then return to our double skinny coffees, or will we make a noise and ask our government to wake up and smell the dead bodies.
Mr. Mbeki, I hope you choked on your cornflakes while reading the paper this morning. Leave Mugabe and his cronies alone. Pay attention, your people are dying! The dream is dying; don’t let the past be for naught! Your father must be turning in his grave; he did not struggle to watch fat cats fight over their piece of the pie, while the masses starve and wonder when it is their turn.
Perhaps this is the poor people of this country telling you that they have had enough of promises. 15 years on and they are still living in shacks with rats the size of small horses running around. It must be wonderful to live in cloud Coo-Coo Land, where you convene sessions to think about discussing that perhaps the may actually be a crisis; and it is right here on our doorstep, and in our backyards.
I don’t want to go out tomorrow morning and photograph more dead or dying people, but I will! I will keep doing it until you finally pay attention and do something about it. Why? Because that is my job and not only am I damn good at it; I am damn proud of it!
Filed under: Latest News — shayne at 7:41 pm on Sunday, May 4, 2008
It is 4:30am on Friday morning and my cellphone alarm is screaming at me to get out of bed, normally it would get thrown across the room with the contempt it deserves. However, I am in Bethlehem covering the South Africa National Hot Air Balloons Championships and this is an event that I really look forward to covering. Perhaps it is the little boy in me, but the idea of colourful balloons in the sky makes me go weak at the knees.
I am out of bed in a shot, only to discover that Bethlehem is really as cold as everyone says. After a few well picked explicit words I am on my way down to meet with the balloonists. The wind is howling as I get out of the car to find a few other forlorn looking photographers huddled around cups of coffee. They are not flying this morning, the wind is too high. If it dies down then they might fly this afternoon, and do a night glow tonight. The main reason that I came down this year, was to get the night glow, there had been nothing on Thursday night because of the wind.
What to do now? It is 5:00am and there are no balloons, no point in getting back into bed. “Landscapes” says one of the other photographers. Great idea, we are in one of the most beautiful parts of the world and the sun is about to show its face. We pile into tow cars and head off to Clarence and Golden Gate National Park, at least we can shoot a pretty picture and getting up early would not have been for nothing.
This was not going to be a good day, every time we found a spot that we liked, the light was wrong! We spent the better part of 3 hours chasing all over the park, total number of great images shot, none! Frozen fingers and toes, all of them! Perhaps going back to bed was not such a bad idea, we admit defeat and head back to our respective hotels.
“Sorry guys the wind is just too high”, this is what we are told as we arrive back at the launch site that afternoon. The balloons will not be going up again and the night glow has also been cancelled. At this point I think that they saw the utter disappointment on our faces, they disappear into a brief huddle and emerge with a compromise. They will set-up the baskets and do a burner test, no balloons, but at least we will have something. We hastily agree to this and make our way to the launch site, not exactly what we had in mind but beggars can’t be choosers.
Shortly after they start setting up I notice that there is one pilot that is setting his rig up on the other side of the fence from the rest of them. A few minutes later there is a balloon attached to his basket and it is glowing in the night sky. Fantastic, it is a beautiful sight as it glows in the empty field all on its own. Not to be outdone three other pilots haul out their balloons and within in the 15 minutes Bethlehem’s skyline has been filled with the colourful shapes of four balloons. I am as happy as a tornado in a trailer park, and am happily filling up my memory cards with some great images.
Boosted by this development, I head off to bed confident that tomorrow morning we will have balloons filling the early morning sky. Unfortunately after another very early morning start, Saturday turns out to be as much of a disappointment as the rest of them, once again the wind is too dangerous and the competition is called off. The winners are declared and that is the end of the championships for this year. The week long event opened Monday. High winds prevented competition Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The top two South African finishers qualify for the world championships to be held in Austria in September.
Next years competition will be in June, and I will be there come rain, wind or snow. The night glow really is a sight to behold, and was worth every early morning disappointment.
Filed under: Latest News — shayne at 9:16 pm on Monday, April 14, 2008
Is it just me, or are things very quiet at the moment. It seems like just yesterday that everyone was up in arms about the power, and various other things.
Everyone seems to have forgotten about Eskom and the power cuts, once again South Africans are just accepting their plight and getting on with life! No wonder we still have people living in squatter camps with no water, lights or sanitation.
Then again we have a president who is as blind as a fucking bat! “There is no crisis in Zimbabwe” Dude what are you fucking smoking in that pipe of yours! This can not be the same man who made the “I am an African” speech, he stood for something, he actually had me believing in him. I have defended him on numerous occasions, but no more! Wake up Mr. Mbeki! Your people are expecting you to lead them, not hide behind quiet diplomacy.
I feel better after that rant; on the work front it is deadly boring. If something does not happen soon, you may see a few photographers standing on the top floor of our office preparing to jump.
Well we can only wait and see what lies in store for us, hopefully something good….SKR
Filed under: Latest News — shayne at 4:16 pm on Tuesday, April 8, 2008
I am back in Johannesburg, and it feels very weird.
I am finding it hard to sleep without the noise, smell and general chaos of Luanda. Have not done much since I got back, I popped into the office for a few hours yesterday. I have taken today off to catch up on some admin etc…
The flight back from Luanda was interesting to say the least. We had to be at the Airport at 6am for a 9:45 am flight! There was already a long line of people waiting when we got there just after 6am. It looked like it was going to be a very long day. While I was standing there contemplating the long wait, I noticed that there were people going through already. Without going into too much detail, I parted with $50.00 and I was though like a David Beckham free kick!
The next two hours was spent sitting at a coffee shop waiting for the flight, this past fairly quickly. Then it was onto the plane, which was pretty empty, I did not have to do a sardine impression all the way back to Johannesburg. Things were looking great! I should have learnt by now, never get excited when things are going right. For some or other reason that has still not been explained we spent the next three hours just sitting there on the runway, with the power going on and then going off.
By the time we eventually took off I had had enough of the plane, my seat and the crappy food! iPod plugged in and away we went. The lesson here, expect it to go wrong and if it doesn’t count yourself lucky.
So, I will have to see what the next few months hold for me, as I am sure they will be Jozi based. I am already putting plans into action to get back to Angola for the elections later this year. Hopefully that will keep my happy, all I know is that my soul has been refreshed and I am ready to shoot some great f@#$ing images…….SKR
Filed under: Latest News — shayne at 3:07 am on Sunday, April 6, 2008
As I sit here in my hotel room writing this it is slowly dawning on me that I am going home in 3 hours time. Just got back from a fairly decent party and there is no point in going to sleep.
One thing for sure, I am going to miss the vibe of this city. I feel a little empty as one does at the end of an assignment. The hardest part about any assignment is letting go of the story.
It was a pretty good day today, woke up late and relaxed for a while. After that it was off to hunt down some capoiera dancers. The sport started here in Angola, so I had to check it out for myself. Got some amazing images and I was blown away with how humble the dancers were. Capoiera is their life; it is kind of a zen thing. They say that it is involved in everything that they do.Just one picture for now because I am feeling lazy and don’t want to edit any more.
So it is back to good old Jozi tomorrow, I am looking forward to seeing my family and sleeping in a decent bed.
